QUESTION OF THE VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL
FREEDOMS IN ANY PART OF THE WORLD, WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO
COLONIAL AND OTHER DEPENDENT COUNTRIES AND TERRITORIES

Report on the situation of human rights in Cuba, prepared
by the Special Rapporteur, Mr. Carl-Johan Groth, in accordance
with Commission resolution 1994/71

I. INTRODUCTION

1. At its fiftieth session, the Commission on Human Rights
adopted resolution 1994/71, entitled "Situation of human
rights in Cuba", on 9 March 1994.
In that resolution, the Commission decided to extend for another
year the mandate conferred on the Special Rapporteur under resolution
1992/61 of 3 March 1992, whereby Mr. Carl-Johan
Groth had been appointed Special Rapporteur.

2. In resolution 1994/71, approved by the Economic and Social
Council in its decision 1994/261 of 22 July 1994, the Special
Rapporteur was requested to report to the Commission at its fifty-first
session and to submit an interim report to the General Assembly
at its forty-ninth session (A/49/544). The General Assembly adopted
resolution 49/200, dated 23 December 1994.

3. The present report is an up-date of the interim report,
to which information has been added on individual cases brought
to the attention of the Special Rapporteur between October and
December 1994.

4. In resolution 1994/71, the Commission also requested the
Special Rapporteur to maintain direct contact with the Government
and citizens of Cuba. It expressed particular concern that the
Cuban Government had failed to carry out its commitment, common
to all Member States, to cooperate with the Commission on Human
Rights, in conformity with Articles 55 and 56 of the Charter of
the United Nations, and it called upon the Government to permit
the Special Rapporteur the opportunity to carry out his mandate
in full, in particular by allowing him to visit Cuba.

5. On 10 August 1994, pursuant to his mandate, the Special
Rapporteur addressed a letter to the Permanent Representative
of Cuba to the United Nations Office at Geneva requesting the
collaboration of the Cuban Government in accomplishing his mandate
and an opportunity to visit the country. To date, there has been
no answer to this letter.

6. Also pursuant to his mandate, the Special Rapporteur tried
to obtain information from a wide variety of sources, and expressed
his willingness to receive any person or group wishing to meet
with him. For that purpose, and bearing in mind that most of the
sources of information on the situation of human rights in Cuba
are in the United States of America, he travelled to New York
and Washington, D.C., from 29 August to 2 September 1994, where
he had the opportunity to meet with individuals and representatives
of the following organizations and groups: the Cuban Committee
for Human Rights, the Committee to Support the Human Rights Movement
in Cuba, the Cuban Women's Foundation, Human Rights in Cuba, Cuban
Change, the Democratic Confederation of Workers, Freedom House,
the Cuban Worker's Trade Union, Americas Watch, Areito Review,
the Cuban-American Committee for Peace, the World Federation of
Cuban Political Prisoners, the Cuban Committee against the Blockade,
the Puerto Rican Group against the Blockade, the American Institute
for Free Labor Development, the Foundation for the Defence of
Family Values, the InterFaith Foundation for Community Organizations,
the House of the Americas and the American Association of Jurists.
The Special Rapporteur received written material - in addition
to that received from the above-mentioned sources - from such
sources as the Information Bureau of the Cuban Human Rights Movement,
the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba, the Christian Democrat
Movement and Amnesty International, as well as many private communications
sent to the Special Rapporteur from Cuba and abroad. The situation
of human rights in Cuba reflected in this report is therefore
based primarily on information from these sources.

II. CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS

A. The right to freedom of expression and association

7. As pointed out in earlier reports, the major problems with
respect to civil and political rights can be attributed to discrimination
on political grounds and to the lack of freedom of expression
and association. The information available to the Special Rapporteur
indicates that since the publication of the last report there
has been no change in the practice of the authorities in this
regard or in the constitutional and penal provisions on which
this practice is based. Persons who peacefully
manifest their disagreement with Government policy, either as
individuals or in groups which have sprung up spontaneously to
defend human rights, including trade union rights, or who engage
in political activity, continue to be subject to harassment, accusations,
disciplinary measures and prison sentences. Although these groups
are determined to use only peaceful means to proclaim their grievances,
the authorities consider their activities to be unlawful and they
are persecuted in various ways. Information
available to the Special Rapporteur indicates that there are more
than 100 such groups throughout the country. As a result of severe
pressure exerted on them and their families by the State apparatus,
their membership has declined and the scope of their action is
limited. Moreover, this restraint, in conjunction with the current
severe economic crisis, is forcing many members to leave the country
by legal or illegal means.

8. The penal terminology most frequently used to label the
activities of such persons as crimes include, inter alia,
enemy propaganda, contempt, unlawful association, possession of
illegal printed matters and resistance. The Special Rapporteur
also has received information to the effect that persons arrested
on ideological grounds have been accused of economic crimes such
as possessing items acquired on the black market; however, the
economic situation in the country is such that at some point nearly
the entire population feels compelled to turn to the black market
for basic necessities, a fact known to the authorities.
One example of this practice is the case of Elizardo Sánchez
Santacruz, the President of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights
and National Reconciliation, who was sentenced in July 1994 to
six months of house arrest because he allegedly possessed a supply
of fuel exceeding the legal limit.

9. As far as the Special Rapporteur has been able to ascertain,
the authorities do not provide figures on the number of persons
serving sentences for politically related crimes. A partial list
prepared by non-governmental groups in the country in November
1994 and sent to the Special Rapporteur contains 1,195 names.
With a few exceptions, this list does not include the names of
persons sentenced for antisocial behaviour or because they attempted
to leave the country illegally. The authorities have also continued
the practice of releasing some of these persons before they have
served their full time, on the condition that they leave the country.
These are persons on whose behalf foreign Governments or institutions
interceded as mediators with the Cuban Government. Some of them
rejected the offer and are still in prison.

10. The following persons are among those prosecuted in 1993
or 1994:

(a) Jose Angel Carrasco Velar was sentenced in January 1993
to seven years in prison for the crime of enemy propaganda because
he helped to prepare news-letters critical of the country's leaders
and made critical remarks to foreign journalists.

(b) Juan Carlos Castillo Pasto was arrested in Santiago de
Cuba early in 1993 and accused of enemy propaganda for hanging
posters and writing anti-Government slogans on walls. He was
subsequently sentenced to eight years in prison by the State
security offences division of the Santiago de Cuba People's Provincial
Court.

(c) Guillermo Fernández Donate, a member of the Socialist
Democratic Movement and of the Cuban Committee for Human Rights,
was arrested in June 1993 and later sentenced to four years in
prison on grounds of spreading enemy propaganda. Early in 1993
he and his wife reportedly were dismissed from their jobs.

(d) Augustín Jesús Lastre Barroso was sentenced
to nine years' imprisonment for the crime of enemy propaganda
in a trial held on 24 September 1993 in the State security offences
division of the People's Provincial Court of Camagüey. Specifically,
he was accused of reporting human rights violations by telephone
and in radio broadcasts to the outside world.

(e) Roberto Rodríguez Hernández was arrested
at Holguín in 1993 for painting anti-Government slogans
on a wall and was moved to police headquarters where he reportedly
was beaten. He was subsequently sentenced to four years' imprisonment
for disseminating enemy propaganda.

(f) Luis Gustavo Domínguez Gutiérrez,
aged 41, from the Peace, Progress and Freedom group, was accused
of contempt and enemy propaganda in case No. 42 of 1993 and sentenced
to seven years' imprisonment. He is serving his sentence in Kilo
7 prison in Camagüey and his state of health is a matter
of concern.

(g) Luis Alberto Coizeau Rizo was summoned to a police station
in Santiago de Cuba on 23 March 1993 and later taken to Versalles,
headquarters of the State Security Department. Under heavy questioning,
he allegedly confessed to having written graffiti and distributed
anti-Government fliers, together with his brother, Leonardo Coizeau
Rizo, who was arrested on 3 April 1993 and transferred to Versalles.
On 9 July 1993, they were tried for the offence of enemy propaganda
by the chamber for offences against State security of the Provincial
Court of Santiago de Cuba and sentenced to three years' imprisonment.

(h) Three human rights activists from Isla de Pinos were sentenced
early in 1994 to prison terms for allegedly disseminating enemy
propaganda: Antonio Morales Zoa and Eriberto Acevedo Vázquez
received three-year terms and Nidia Ramírez Alvarez (the
wife of Mr. Morales Zoa), received a term of one and one-half
years.

(i) Rodolfo González González, a member of the
Cuban Committee for Human Rights, was arrested on 10 December
1992 for furnishing anti-Government information to the foreign
media. In March 1994 he was sentenced to seven years in prison
on the charge of spreading enemy propaganda. It was reported
that the authorities offered to stay his sentence if he would
leave the country, but that he refused. According to the information
received, during three months of detention at Villa Marista before
he was moved to prison, he was kept in a sealed cell and had
to sleep on a metal sheet under a fluorescent light that burned
24 hours a day. On 7 November 1994, he was transferred to Combinado
del Sur de Matanzas prison, where he was held in solitary confinement
in a cell in the punishment wing, which was flooded with water
every day, without any possibility of going out to the yard or
receiving medical assistance. On 2 December 1994, he was transferred
again, this time to Aguica prison, Matanzas, where he was also
held in a punishment cell.

(j) Ruben de Jésus Aloma Aday, aged 20, was sentenced
to one year in prison in June 1994 for shouting slogans against
the regime and slandering and insulting its leaders at a demonstration
protesting the death of a youth, Luis Quevedo Remolina, in the
municipality of Regla on 14 October 1993.
Aramís Hurtado and Joel Sierra were sentenced to one year
in prison and Jesús Barthelemí Suárez and
Felipe Fernández, to one and one-half years, in connection
with the same events.

(k) Domiciano Torres Roca, a former
professor of architecture and Vice-President of the Democratic
Civic Party, was dismissed in 1992, together with other professors,
from his post at the Armando Mestre School of Technology in Guanabacoa
for his criticism of Government policy. After he and other members
of his group received threats by officials from the State Security
Department, he was arrested in Havana on 13 August 1993. The
police searched his home and confiscated a set of documents which
were described as "enemy propaganda". On 13 July 1994,
he was tried and later sentenced to three years' imprisonment.
In September 1994, he was transferred from the prison known as
El Pitirre in San Miguel del Padrón, Havana, to Kilo 7
maximum security prison in Camagüey.

(l) Ileana Curra Luzón, Vice-President of the Nationalist
Agenda Movement, was arrested on 14 November 1994 in Cerro district,
Havana, by State security agents and taken to the police stations
in Cerro, Décima Unidad de Acosta and San Mariano in Diez
de Octubre district and then to the Villa Marista detention centre.
According to reports, Mrs. Curra Luzón had a suspended
sentence of three years' imprisonment for enemy propaganda after
she filed an appeal that finally resulted in the sentence being
upheld. She is serving the sentence in Prisión Occidental
de Mujeres.

11. The Special Rapporteur also was told about the following
cases involving persons who, as this report went to press, were
being held in custody pending trial:

(a) Raúl Dimas González Cuellar, Vice-President
of the Pacifist Solidarity and Peace Movement, was arrested in
Havana on 26 January 1994. He was held for questioning in the
Villa Marista security police station until 14 March when he
was moved to the Guanajay prison, accused of carrying weapons
and being in possession of explosives. However, the reports by
the security agents who searched his house made no mention of
weapons or explosives.

(b) Francisco Chaviano González, President of the National
Council for Civil Rights in Cuba, was detained by agents of Havana
State Security Police on 7 May 1994. The agents entered his home
shortly after an unknown person gave him documents detailing
human rights violations. The agents also seized National Council
documents, including information on persons who had disappeared
at sea while attempting to leave the country. He was brought
to the Villa Marista police headquarters where he was accused
of divulging secret information about State security. Mr. Chaviano
previously had repeatedly been subjected to intimidation.

(c) Walter Arenas Musa, aged 41, resident of Güines,
Havana province, was arrested on 14 September 1994 on charges
of unlawful association and activities against Government institutions,
which were the terms used to describe his participation in a
Miami radio programme devoted primarily to exchanges of family
and humanitarian messages between persons living in Cuba and
in the United States. According to the information received,
the charges brought initially were withdrawn for lack of evidence
and replaced by possession of food items allegedly obtained on
the black market, such as tomato paste.

(d) Marta María Vega Cabrera, aged 30, member of the
Democratic Civic Association in Isla de Pinos, was arrested on
3 June 1994 on charges of enemy propaganda. In July, she was
transferred to Women's Western Prison, where she was allegedly
beaten and detained incommunicado in a sealed cell for several
months after being accused of painting anti-Government slogans.
She had also been arrested in 1990 and served a sentence of two
years' imprisonment.

12. The Special Rapporteur continued to receive information
concerning incidents involving persons subjected to harassment,
"acts of repudiation" on the part of so-called "rapid-response
brigades", temporary detention, loss of employment or other
reprisals by the security apparatus, and for ideological reasons.
In 1994, such incidents included the public protest in Havana
on 5 August which, according to the information received, led
to some 300 arrests.

13. According to newspaper reports, in early September, the
initial trials of persons arrested in the disturbances of 5 August
were held at San Miguel de Padrón. At one of those trials,
11 persons, mostly youths between 18 and 25 years old, were accused
of "creating a public disturbance". Four of them were
sentenced to one year in prison, two, to eight months and two,
to six months, while three were acquitted. The court presumably
established that the accused had been proven guilty of participating
in the aforementioned disturbances, during which a large group
of persons began shouting insulting epithets directed at various
Government leaders. Furthermore, the court based its guilty verdict
on the fact that the accused had been arrested where the events
had occurred but had no reason to be there, and on who they were,
i.e., mostly young social misfits. Other
reports received by the Special Rapporteur indicate that, in mid-September,
more than 160 of the persons arrested in the events of 5 August
were transferred to Kilo 7 maximum security prison in Camagüey.

14. A number of persons belonging to human rights groups reportedly
were arrested during the days following the disturbances even
though they had not participated in the protest. They included,
for example, Gustavo Cano Escobar, President of the Cuban Democratic
Movement; Nelson Torres Pulido, President of the Cuban Human Rights
Party; María Valdés Rosado, President, and Jesús
Rafael Castillo Hernández, Vice-President, of the Cuban
Christian Democratic Movement; Aida Rosa Jiménez, President
of the Democratic Civic Party, who was also detained for two days
in July; Alberto Rodríguez García, Jesús
Faisel Iglesias and René Gomez Manzano of the National
Council for Civil Rights in Cuba; René del Pozo Pozo and
Gerardo Valdés of the Coordinating Body for Human Rights
Organizations in Cuba; Sara Franco Lemón of the Confederation
of Democratic Workers; and Fernando Velázquez Medina, who
recently was released after spending two years in prison because
he and his wife, Xiomara González, had ties to the group
known as the Alternative Way.

15. Other examples of persons recently subjected to harassment
follow:

(a) Jesús Yanes Pelletier, 77 years of age, Vice-President
of the Cuban Committee for Human Rights, was assaulted in the
street on 7 August 1994 by persons suspected of acting at the
instigation of the security forces. On 16 June 1994 he had been
arrested, taken to the police station on Calle L and the Malecón
and threatened; on 21 June, he was again arrested and taken to
Villa Marista for interrogation.

(b) Angela Herrera, President of the Cuban Democratic Coalition,
and her daughter, Guillermina de la Caridad Acuña Herrera,
member of the Movimiento Maceista por la Dignidad (Torch-bearers
for Dignity) in Havana, were the targets of repeated threats,
harassment, house searches and brief detentions for the activities
in publicizing Cuban human rights violations in foreign countries.
In the course of 1994, Mrs. Herrera left the country.

(c) Belkis Lima Pérez and Eduardo Lima Pérez,
members of the Cuban Civic Movement, were subjected to an "act
of repudiation" by "rapid-response brigades" in
their home in the Alamar neighbourhood of Havana on 12 April
1994, in the course of which a family member was wounded.

(d) Jorge Omar Lorenzo Pimienta, Mario Rodríguez Castellón,
Abilio Ramos Moya and Terina Fernández González,
members of the National Council for Civil Rights in Cuba, had
their homes searched by the police in early May 1994, in connection
with the arrest of the Council President (Francisco Chaviano
González). The police also confiscated documents belonging
to the Council; and Mr. Lorenzo Pimienta was again detained for
several days in early August 1994.

(e) Ignacio Hidalgo Gómez, a delegate from Holguín
to the Cuban Committee for Human Rights, was arrested on 14 August
1993 and taken to the State Security Department, where he remained
for several hours during which he was forced to sign a record
of warning. On 10 December 1993, he was again arrested and held
more than 12 hours on the premises of the Ministry of the Interior.
On 10 March 1994, he was taken to the third police precinct where
he was held for 11 hours; in addition, on 21 April 1994, he was
threatened by the head of the police sector and the chairman
of his neighbourhood Committee for the Defence of the Revolution,
who came to see him in his home.

(f) Eugenio Rodríguez Chaple, President of the Democratic
Civic Front, his wife Lázara Herrera Portelles and his
two sons were subjected on 12 February 1994 to an "act of
repudiation" by a group of about 30 people who broke into
their home in Havana, beat them and damaged their property. The
attack lasted about half an hour, without the police putting
in an appearance. When later Mr. Chaple went to the police station
to complain, the police retorted in hostile tones that this kind
of incident did not occur in Cuba and it was therefore impossible
for them to bring charges.

17. In his report to the fiftieth session of the Commission
on Human Rights, the Special Rapporteur referred to cases similar
to those mentioned above and the practices that can be deduced
from them and to the excessive control being exerted for ideological
reasons over the day-to-day life of every individual through the
learning centres, for example, or the workplace, down to the neighbourhoods,
with their Committees for the Defence of the Revolution. In the
workplace, for instance, "reliability" is a key factor
in judging the "fitness" of each worker and reliability
covers political orientation, as well as loyalty to management
at the workplace and to the Government, or the Party, and willingness
to perform the services they require. Investigations, the results
of which are confirmed by the Committees for the Defence of the
Revolution or the Department of Technical Investigations or the
opinions of the Party cell in each workplace, are decisive in
assessing reliability. If it is decided that a worker is not trustworthy,
he is dismissed from his job, post, company, etc., without regard
for experience, years of service or any other qualifications.
Furthermore, a ruling of unreliability cannot be appealed to the
labour tribunals.

18. Of relevance in this connection are the comments of the
Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations
of the International Labour Organisation, which considered the
question of discrimination in the fields of labour and education
in connection with Convention No. 111 concerning Discrimination
in respect of Employment and Occupation, ratified by Cuba in 1965.
The subject was considered in response to a charge that 14 university
professors had been dismissed in January 1992.
In its 1994 report, the Committee states:

"Resolution No. 590 of 4 December 1986, which adopts
and gives effect to the rules of procedure for the inspection
system of the Ministry of Education, establishes that the results,
goals and methods of inspection must always be considered from
the viewpoint of the Communist Party of Cuba (art. 2) and evaluated
in the light of political, ideological and scientific factors
(art. 8). The Committee felt that such criteria could give rise
to discrimination based on political opinion: (i) in the education
of students; (ii) in the evaluation of teachers whose performance
was under review; and (iii) in the conditions of employment and
evaluation of the work of the inspectors themselves.

"Moreover, Decree-Law No. 34 of 12 March 1980 is
based on the idea that 'persons involved in the process of educating
children and young people constitute a model for the development
of the Communist personality'; in pursuance of the law, it is
justified to dismiss from their posts members of the faculty
of schools and institutions of higher learning, as well as the
staff of educational institutions dealing directly with students,
on grounds, inter alia, of 'committing serious and egregious
acts contrary to socialist morality and the ideological principles
of our society'. This law has been applied to technical personnel,
professors, teachers, administrative or service personnel and
technical personnel in the education field ... In previous commentaries,
the Committee took note of the Government's intention to amend
those texts and in its last report it takes note of the Government's
intention to do so when appropriate and to make the adjustments
required by the particular circumstances of each sector of the
system ...

"The Committee also examined resolution No. 2 of
20 December 1989 on the reinstatement of teaching personnel to
whom Decree-Law No. 34/80 was applied. The Committee notes that
workers dismissed from their posts for any of the activities
listed in Decree-Law No. 34/80 cannot be reinstated until they
have completed five years of disciplinary work, during which
period they are to be barred from engaging in educational activities.

"The Committee believes that the legislation in question
is worded in such broad terms as to give rise to discriminatory
practices against any worker involved in the education of young
people, and that the penalties stipulated exclude them from their
posts for too long a period ... The Committee requests the Government
to take the necessary steps to abrogate those legislative texts
in the near future in accordance with article 3 (c) of the Convention."

19. Contrary to what was established by the Committee of Experts,
the practice of dismissal from the workplace, especially of professors,
seems to have continued, as can be seen in the following cases
communicated to the Special Rapporteur:

(a) Antonio Domínguez Dizat, a researcher at the Advanced
Agricultural Institute in Ciego de Avila, was dismissed from
his post on 3 August 1993 on grounds of political unreliability,
for having expressed opinions in favour of political change and
for continuing his friendship with two university professors
who had also been dismissed from their posts for the same reasons
in 1992.

(b) Marta Vidaurreta Lima, a professor at the Advanced Industrial
Design Institute in Havana, was dismissed from her post in February
1994 pursuant to Decree-Law No. 34/80, after having delivered
a letter to the Rector of the Institute expressing her opinions
about the situation in the country and its impact on higher education,
and especially about the application of ideological criteria
when establishing the conditions for admission to the Institute,
about the dismissal of professors and about the constant pressure
exerted on students, again for ideological reasons.

(c) Miguel Angel Lorenzo Cepero, a researcher at the Provincial
Sugar Cane Research Centre located near the Venezuela CA1, province
of Ciego de Avila, was dismissed from his post in August 1993
for having sent a letter to President Fidel Castro criticizing
the action of the management of his place of work and of the
Communist Party.

B. Freedom to form and join trade unions

20. Since the publication of his previous report, the Special
Rapporteur did not find any change for the better with regard
to recognition of trade union rights. In general, there are serious
restrictions on the right of workers to establish organizations
that will promote and defend their interests and to have them
recognized as legal persons and to be protected against discrimination
aimed at undermining the freedom to form and join trade unions
provided for in International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions
Nos. 87 and 98. Despite repeated criticism by the bodies responsible
for the implementation of ILO conventions, the Confederation of
Cuban Workers continues to exercise a monopoly in that respect.
As a result, the Special Rapporteur continued to receive information
indicating that new trade unions, considered illegal by the authorities,
were being established, with membership growing but that their
members were being harassed.

21. Complaints were brought, for instance, in cases like that
of Edith Lupe, a member of the Confederation of Democratic Workers
in the Arroyo Naranjo district of Havana, who was summoned on
24 May 1994 by the State Security Department, where she was threatened
with prosecution and with an "act of repudiation" if
she continued her trade union activities. The same type of threats
were made in the course of 1994 against Héctor Domínguez,
Jesús Benito Díaz, Fernando Mendoza, Martha Rosa
Medina and Manuel Gallardo, also members of the Confederation
in the San José de las Lajas district; Sara Franco Lemón
and Rigoberto Correa Rodríguez, members of the executive
board of the Confederation in Havana; and Ileana Estrugo Pomares
and Lázaro Rodríguez Torres, both members of the
Love and Peace Christian Movement, also in Havana. Lázaro
Corp Yeras, General Secretary of the General Union of Cuban Workers
and President of the National Commission of Independent Trade
Unions (CONSI) was beaten in the street in the Playa district
of Havana on 2 August 1994 by three individuals suspected of connections
with security bodies; his 17-year-old son was also beaten in the
same incident. Lázaro Cuesta, a member of CONSI, was beaten
in a Havana street on 30 August 1994 by four individuals suspected
of belonging to the security bodies.

22. In addition, Juan Guarino Martínez Guillén,
President of the Confederation of Democratic Workers, was arrested
early in May 1993 charged with incitement to crime as the organizer,
according to police, of a peaceful demonstration that took place
on 1 May. He was sentenced to one year of house arrest, with the
sentence to be doubled and served in prison should he insist on
pursuing his trade union activities. On 17 September 1993, he
was again arrested and taken to the Taco-Taco prison in Pinar
del Río, where in January 1994 he was allegedly beaten
and then transferred to the Combinado del Este prison. He was
released in May 1994, apparently because of serious health problems.

C. The "dangerous state" and security measures

23. As noted in earlier reports, article 72 of the Penal Code
deals with the concept of the "dangerous state", which
it defines as "a person's special proclivity to commit offences
as demonstrated by conduct that is manifestly contrary to the
norms of socialist morality". Article 74 provides that "'a
dangerous state' exists when the subject displays any of the following
indicators of 'dangerousness': (a) habitual inebriation and dipsomania;
(b) drug addiction; (c) antisocial behaviour". Furthermore,
"any person who, through antisocial behaviour, habitually
transgresses the norms of social coexistence by committing acts
of violence, or other acts of provocation, or who violates the
rights of others, or whose general behaviour imperils the rules
of coexistence or disturbs the order of the community, or who
lives as a social parasite off the work of others or exploits
or practices socially reprehensible vices, shall be considered
to be in a dangerous state".

24. In addition, article 75 provides that "anyone who,
while not falling under any of the dangerous states referred to
in article 73, might develop a proclivity to commit offences,
because of connections or relations with persons who are potentially
dangerous to society, other persons, or the social, economic and
political order of the socialist State, shall be given a warning
by the competent police authorities to avert involvement in socially
dangerous or criminal activities".

25. When a person displays any of the indicators of "dangerousness"
referred to above, so-called security measures may be applied
before or after a crime is committed. In the case of pre-crime
measures, article 78 et seq. provide that anyone found to be in
a "dangerous state" may be subject in the ensuing proceedings
to security measures involving therapy, re-education or surveillance
by the National Revolutionary Police. Re-education measures are
applied to antisocial individuals and consist of internment in
a specialized labour or study institute and delivery to a labour
collective for monitoring and modification of their behaviour.
Surveillance by organs of the National Revolutionary Police, also
applicable to antisocial individuals, involves modification and
monitoring of the conduct of the subject in a "dangerous
state" by their officials.

26. According to information received by the Special Rapporteur,
Decree-Law No. 128 of 1991 establishes the procedure to be followed
in the case of a finding of a pre-crime indicator of "dangerousness"
involving antisocial behaviour and further provides that such
an indicator shall be determined summarily. The National Revolutionary
Police opens the case file with the report of the reporting officer,
the testimony of persons in the neighbourhood of the domicile
attesting to the "dangerous" conduct of the suspect,
and any official warnings delivered. Once the file is completed,
the police submit it to the judge of the district court, who decides
whether to refer it to the People's Municipal Court, which has
to decide within two working days of the date of receipt whether
it contains an indicator of "dangerousness". Within
those two days, the Court may authorize further inquiries or formalities,
which the judge will be requested to complete within five working
days. When the Court reviews the complete file, it will set the
date of arraignment. The Court will issue its decision within
24 hours of the arraignment.

27. The reports received by the Special Rapporteur indicate
that, during 1994 and the final months of 1993, the authorities
frequently opened files on cases of "dangerousness"
which subsequently led to incarceration of the persons in question
in penal establishments for periods of up to four years (the Penal
Code makes no specific mention of imprisonment as a possible security
measure). The summary nature of the proceedings suggests, according
to reports received, that the accused has scarcely any time to
contact a lawyer of his choice or to prepare a defence. The increase
in such cases over the reporting period might be due to an increase
in acts of vandalism or social protest such as the distribution
of pamphlets or the painting of anti-Government slogans on walls,
not having an acceptable job, petty larceny, throwing stones at
commercial establishments, etc. In may cases, groups of persons,
not individuals, are arrested and subsequently tried, thus further
reducing procedural safeguards.

28. The information received indicates that this legislation
is used not only to control common crime, which may have increased
owing to the economic crisis, but also against persons suspected
of activities that contravene the official ideology. The criterion
of "special proclivity" to commit offences is a subjective
standard that frequently leads to the adoption of measures involving
restrictions on the freedom of persons whose only proclivity is
to hold views that differ from the official line.

29. In the final analysis, the very existence of a penal offence
that means that a person may be punished without having committed
any crime, the imprecision of the terms used in the Penal Code
to describe the offence and the consequent security measures,
the summary nature of the procedure and the lack of safeguards
it implies, as well as its use on the basis of political criteria,
certainly give cause for concern from a human rights perspective.

30. The following are some of the individual cases reported
to the Special Rapporteur:

(a) Héctor Eduardo Pedrera Miranda was arrested on
16 December 1993 on leaving his home in Alta Habana and taken
to the district office of the National Revolutionary Police.
On 23 September, he was brought to trial, during which the prosecutor
stated that he had a police record because he left the country
illegally (an offence for which he had already served time),
thus demonstrating that he was hostile to the Revolution and
"dangerous". It was also reported that defence counsel
had no access to the accused's file and that he was allowed to
speak with the accused only minutes before the trial. The accused
was sentenced to four years' imprisonment.

(b) Mercedes Parada Antunes, a member of the Association for
the Defence of Political Rights, was arrested on 26 September
1993, accused of "dangerousness". On 8 October 1993
a trial was held at the People's Municipal Court at Marianao,
Havana, at which she was sentenced to two years' imprisonment.

(c) Benigno Torralba Sánchez, General Secretary of
the Confederation of Democratic Workers in Arroyo Naranjo, Havana,
was arrested at the end of 1993 and subsequently sentenced to
four years' imprisonment for "dangerousness". He served
the sentence in the Combinado del Este prison.

(d) Abel Jesús Acosta Ameneiro, a member of the Human
Rights Party in Villa Clara, was arrested on 4 October 1993.
At the trial, held on 6 October, he was sentenced to two years'
imprisonment for "dangerousness" and taken to La Pendiente
prison in Villa Clara. At the trial it was stated that the accused
had met with "counterrevolutionary elements", possibly
a reference to a meeting he had with a Canadian journalist.

(e) Rolando Cambra Gonzàlez, of the Cuban Human Rights
Party, was arrested on 15 October 1993 in Havana and sentenced
to four years' imprisonment for "dangerousness".

(f) Jorge Luis Domíniguez Riera, of the Cuban Human
Rights Party, in Regla, was arrested on 15 October 1993 and taken
to the Department of Technical Investigations in Havana for having
participated in an anti-government demonstration. On 18 October
he was sentenced to four years' imprisonment for "dangerousness".

D. Freedom of the press

31. Just as freedom of expression and freedom of association
are sharply limited for ideological reasons and subject to strict
control by the State machinery, the press suffers from similar
restrictions. Article 53 of the Constitution recognizes freedom
of speech and of the press, provided it is in keeping with the
objectives of socialist society. The same article states that
"material conditions for the exercise of that right are provided
by the fact that the press, radio, television, movies and other
organs of the mass media are State or social property and can
never be private property; this ensures their use at the exclusive
service of the working people and in the interest of society".

32. As a result of this system, the major newspapers, such
as Granma (the official organ of the Communist Party),
Juventud Rebelde (the organ of the Union of Communist Youth)
and Trabajadores (the organ of the Cuban Workers Confederation)
reflect only the government viewpoint; they report only to a limited
extent the discussions held in the high-level organs of government
with power to decide issues of major interest to the citizens;
and they emphasize the positive aspects of the news over the negative.
It is obvious that this situation makes for poorly informed citizens
and induces apathy towards the national communication media, while
increasing interest in turning to foreign media to find out what
is really happening in their own country. It is estimated that
some 70 per cent of the population regularly listens to Radio
Martí, a programme broadcast from the United States.

E. Right to leave and return to the country

33. The right to leave one's own country and return to it is
not recognized in Cuban law, as previous reports have explained.
This right is set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rightsand in other international human
rights instruments, but they do not, however, recognize the right
to enter any specific country.

34. According to national legislation, in order to enter or
to leave the country, Cuban citizens require a permit, which government
authorities may issue or not at their discretion. While in recent
years the requirements for obtaining an exit permit, whether temporary
or permanent, have been simplified, the authorities may deny one
at any time at their discretion and their decision is not subject
to appeal through the courts. The Special Rapporteur received
information in 1994, for example, about the cases of Raúl
and Alejandro Roque González, former pilots in the Cuban
Air Force, who served terms in prison for political reasons and
were denied authorization to leave the country, although they
had entry permits for the United States, where some members of
their family reside. Others in a similar situation were Nancy
Alemeida Fernández and her two sons, Jorge De Jesús
and Luis Fidel Blardoni, who held entry visas for the United States,
where they intended to rejoin their husband and father, a former
captain in the Merchant Marine, who obtained asylum there in 1992.
Gregorio Sáez Alvarez, once a political prisoner, and his
family had their exit permit suspended without explanation after
they had completed all the formalities, even to the point of surrendering
their ration book and having their girls withdraw from school,
as required. Isidro Tomás Sánchez Santos and his
family were also denied their exit permit, even though they had
had visas since December 1993 to enter the United States as refugees.

35. It is also quite common that, on political grounds, the
authorities deny a temporary exit permit to persons who apply
for one in order to attend events to which they have been invited.

36. For chiefly political reasons, but also, especially in
recent years, for economic reasons, a large portion of the Cuban
population has manifested a desire to leave their country to live
elsewhere, preferably in the United States. Faced with this situation,
in 1984 the two Governments concluded agreements on immigration,
according to which the United States would issue a certain number
of visas to Cubans annually to permit them to reside in that country.
On the other hand, under United States Public Law No. 89-732 of
1966, referred to as the "Cuban Adjustment Act", the
United States Government authorized Cubans who had entered the
country to take up residence.

37. The difficulties involved in emigrating legally (both Governments
have something to say about that) and the loophole opened up by
the Cuban Adjustment Act have unleashed a steady stream of people,
particularly in recent years, leaving Cuba and heading for the
coast of the United States on any boat they can find and at the
risk of their lives. Illegal exit, however, is defined as a crime
by article 216 of the Cuban Penal Code, which provides that "a
person who leaves or commits acts preparatory to leaving the national
territory without complying with legal formalities shall be subject
to imprisonment for from one to three years or a fine of three
hundred to one thousand currency units". As a result, persons
caught trying to leave the country illegally or committing acts
preparatory to leaving are prosecuted and frequently sentenced
to prison terms; they are stigmatized as "unreliable"
in the workplace, and the physical means they were using to effect
their departure (such as a vehicle for transport) are confiscated.
In recent years, the penalties imposed seem to have been lighter
than in the past and, in some cases, have not even involved imprisonment.

38. In his previous report, the Special Rapporteur cited estimates
from non-governmental sources indicating that some 2,500 persons
reached the United States coast in this way in 1992, and some
3,000 in 1993. A press release transmitted by the Permanent Mission
of Cuba to the United Nations Office at Geneva dated 25 August
1994, containing a summarized version of the speech given by the
President of the Republic on national radio and television, states
that, in 1990, Cuba blocked the illegal exit of 1,593 persons,
while the United States admitted 467; in 1991, it stopped 6,596
persons, while the United States admitted 1,997; and from January
to August 1994, Cuba prevented the exit of 10,975 persons, while
the United States admitted 4,092. These figures give an idea both
of the increased number of exit attempts and of the number of
persons who may have been penalized for it.

39. In this situation, there are two fundamental reasons for
concern. One is the large number of people who are perishing at
sea, given the conditions under which they attempt the crossing;
on this there are no reliable statistics. Non-governmental sources
gave the Special Rapporteur details on 40 persons who allegedly
died in such circumstances in 1992, 57 in 1993 and 13 in the first
four months of 1994. Another reason for concern is the attitude
of the Cuban authorities when they catch people attempting to
leave. A case recently reported involves José Inesio Pedraza
Izquierdo, who was killed by frontier guards who opened fire in
June 1994 as he attempted to leave the country through the port
of La Fe in the municipality of Guane in Pinar del Rio province.

40. On 13 July 1994 the tugboat 13 de Marzo was shipwrecked
as it headed for the United States coast carrying a large crowd
of people, including children, who were attempting to leave Cuba.
According to the above-mentioned press release from the Permanent
Mission of Cuba, "in the investigation of the tragic shipwreck
of the vessel, from which 31 persons were rescued, while 32 others
drowned, it was determined that the authorities of the island
bore no responsibility for the accident". However, the Special
Rapporteur received testimony from some of the survivors indicating
that government launches from the port of Havana tried to stop
the 13 de Marzo with pressurized water jets and then deliberately
rammed it, causing it to sink. Regrettably, this is no isolated
incident. The Special Rapporteur has already made mention in previous
reports of information received about incidents of excessive use
of force on the part of coastguard patrols to prevent the departure
of persons attempting to leave the country, resulting in deaths
on a number of occasions. This tends to contradict the argument
of the Cuban Government that it seeks to prevent these departures
because of the risk to life that they entail, and in the case
of the tugboat 13 de Marzo, the response was disproportionate,
even given the fact that the boat was stolen.

41. In the weeks following the incident just described, the
number of persons attempting to leave the country for the United
States increased dramatically, so that early in August the Cuban
Government declared that from then on it would not try to prevent
such departures. From a human rights standpoint, the decision
can only be viewed as a positive step. Nevertheless, it was dictated
more by political expediency than humanitarian motives and was
not accompanied by a change in the laws to decriminalize illegal
exit. This was borne out by the fact that, after new immigration
agreements were concluded with the United States early in September
1994, the ban on leaving the country reverted to the status that
prevailed prior to the crisis - a crisis that led to the exodus
of some 32,000 people, most of whom are at Guantanamo and other
United States military bases in a precarious situation from the
point of view of the law and living conditions.

42. The Special Rapporteur was also informed that, at the time
of the August exodus, some members of opposition groups were subjected
to pressure by government agents for the specific purpose of getting
them to leave the country. In addition, the Special Rapporteur
received a partial list which contained the names of 31 members
of different human rights organizations and opposition groups
who were at the Guantanamo naval base and who were asking to be
granted refugee status by the United States.

43. It is not the business of the Special Rapporteur to take
a position on the phenomenon of departure by sea and the consequences
for those who attempt it. It is his responsibility, however, to
deplore the excessive use of force on the part of officials charged
with preventing such departures and to deplore the prosecution
and punishment of those who exercise their internationally recognized
right to leave their own country.

III. CONDITIONS IN THE PRISONS

44. The information received by the Special Rapporteur does
not indicate any improvement in the food, sanitary and medical
conditions, inter alia, described in previous reports of
the Special Rapporteur and which continue to give cause for concern.
The following is an excerpt from a letter sent recently by a prisoner
to the Special Rapporteur: "Over 5,000 prisoners are crowded
into Combinado del Este, which has a maximum capacity of about
3,000. Some sleep on the floor and the great majority on thin
straw mattresses without sheets or pillowcases. The lack of hygiene,
compounded by official laziness and neglect, and of proper products
and equipment for general sanitation, adversely affect and constantly
endanger the health of prisoners, who appeal in desperation to
their relatives for medicine that is not available in the prison
medicine chest. Exactly the same conditions prevail in Guanajay
prison, which keeps over 700 prisoners in buildings intended for
a maximum of 400. In both prisons, which are infested with cockroaches,
flies and rats, the prison population is exposed to infectious
diseases and defenceless owing to inadequate or non-existent medical
facilities. A proportion of the inmates of both prisons are suffering
from scabies, tuberculosis and other illnesses. One of the methods
used in the distribution of the scarce and very poor food rations
is the crushing of whole fish, forcing the prisoners to swallow
bones and scales".

45. Another report received by the Special Rapporteur on Combinado
Sur de Matanzas prison states that soap, toothpaste and razor
blades have not been distributed for over five months. Scabies
has broken out in all parts of the prison, which has room for
500 prisoners, but now houses 1,200. The infirmary is in very
poor condition and hygiene and medical attention are lacking.
Three persons recently died as a result of negligence in the provision
of medical attention.

46. The cases of Sebastián Arcos Bergnes, held in Ariza
prison; Joel Dueñas Martínez, held in Kilo 5, Pinar
del Río; Rubén Hoyos Ruiz, held in Alambrada de
Manacas prison, Villa Clara; William Pérdomo Santiesteban,
held in Ganuza, Havana; Mario Pérez Blanco, held in Ganuza;
Pablo Reyes Martínez, held in Quivicán; Alberto
Valdés Fernández, held in Nueva Blanca, Havana;
and Mario Viera González, held in Canaleta (Ciego de Avila)
are among the communications referred to the Special Rapporteur
because those prisoners were denied medical assistance when the
seriousness of their condition required it.

47. There seems to have been no improvement either in the treatment
of prisoners by prison staff or in the authorities' attitude to
the punishment of officials for excessive use of force. A report
received by the Special Rapporteur on conditions in the provincial
prison of Ciego de Avila contains the following passage: "There
are constant and repeated inspections, extreme measures are taken
by the prison security officials to ensure that not a single report
on what is happening reaches the outside world, the prisoners
are strip-searched twice before receiving a visit and they can
only see their relatives across a table while a guard keeps watch
over their movements. Their relatives are also subjected to humiliating
and degrading searches; beatings and canings are a daily routine".
The following are some of the incidents reported: Roberto Abrós,
a prisoner in Quivicán, was beaten on 16 August 1993 for
going on a hunger strike and sustained a head wound and a broken
arm. Lázaro López Rodríguez, held in Combinado
del Este, was severely beaten on 19 September 1993 for refusing
to wear an over-sized uniform. Mantel Ruiz Fail, held in the provincial
prison of Ciego de Avila, died on 12 March 1994, allegedly as
a result of a beating by two guards who chained him to the bars
of a cell. Elvis Mantel Suárez Armenteros, held in Combinado
del Este, was severely beaten on 4 July 1993 for insisting on
medical treatment for a severe earache that he had been suffering
for days. Arturo Suárez Ramos has allegedly spent the last
two years in punishment cells, first in Boniato prison (Santiago
de Cuba) and now in Combinado Sur de Matanzas prison, where he
is subjected to frequent beatings and other abuses. Luis Fuentes
Valdés, who is serving a sentence for the crime of enemy
propaganda, was allegedly put into a punishment cell in section
3 of Cinco y Medio prison in Pinar del Río on 5 April 1994
because of a hunger strike he started that day, and was kept there
for several months. José Ramón Rodríguez
Benítez, who was also serving a sentence for enemy propaganda,
has allegedly been held incommunicado in the same section since
August 1992.

IV. CONSIDERATIONS CONCERNING THE ENJOYMENT OF ECONOMIC,
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS

48. The Cuban economy has suffered a complete breakdown in
the past four years, with disastrous consequences for the well-being
of the population. Negative economic growth has been recorded
each year since 1990 and the sugar industry, the mainstay of the
national economy, is running at 50 per cent of its capacity at
the beginning of the decade. Heavily dependent on oil to meet
their energy requirements, the greater part of the industrial,
agricultural and transportation sectors and indeed everyday life
have been paralysed by the sizeable reduction in oil imports.
There are prolonged and frequently unpredictable power cuts and
particularly severe transportation difficulties, so that in some
cases people have to walk or cycle considerable distances to reach
their workplace.

49. Although in recent decades the Cuban Government has sought
to create conditions in which the majority of the population can
enjoy the economic and social rights guaranteed in the Universal
Declaration and other human rights instruments, those rights are
today in serious jeopardy. Patients may see a doctor or surgeon
when necessary, but they have great difficulty in obtaining prescribed
drugs, even for extremely minor ailments. Students still have
access to free education at all levels but the quality and availability
of textbooks and school equipment have deteriorated sharply. Many
companies have been forced to close down for lack of supplies,
creating what amounts to unemployment, although the workers continue
to receive a portion of their wages.

50. With regard to food, although the Government theoretically
guarantees a minimum to every citizen through the ration book,
the commodities available in this way are far from sufficient
and sometimes of dubious quality, so that ordinary people have
to satisfy their basic needs and those of their families, and
not only for food, by going against the law and turning to the
parallel market. Although they are for the most part law-abiding
citizens, they suddenly find themselves breaking the law, with
the attendant individual and social implications.

51. According to data provided by the Cuban authorities to
the European Union, per capita daily caloric consumption amounted
in 1993 to only 1,780, a drop of 1,065 from 1989 and of 770 even
from 1960, compared with an ideal consumption of over 3,000 calories.
Between 1989 and 1992, the output of 11 of the 15 main agricultural
products fell dramatically: production of poultry declined by
77 per cent and that of pigs by 69 per cent. A similar decline
was recorded in the output of processed food: the volume of powdered
milk produced stood at only one tenth of its 1989 level. Schools,
and not all of them, provide a glass of milk to children only
up to the age of 8 years now, compared with 16 previously.

52. According to analysts of conditions in Cuba, the Government
bears a large share of the responsibility for this situation.
Official estimates show that the Cuban economy ceased to grow
in the mid-1980s. There were various factors involved but one
of them seems to be related, in the case of the food sector, to
the so-called correction campaign launched in 1986, which prohibited
farmers from selling their produce in the free market and prevented
the population from engaging in economic activities that would
have helped to meet its basic needs. Other factors to which analysts
attribute the Cuban economic situation have been the virtually
total absence of small-scale enterprises in the private sector;
centralized planning at any price entirely unrelated to market
forces; excessively centralized control of decision-making governing
the appropriation of resources and lack of a rational economic
price structure.

53. The international community also has some responsibility
to bear, on the one hand for cutting off the extensive aid flows
from the former socialist bloc and, on the other, for the United
States decision not only to maintain the embargo imposed in the
1960s but also to prohibit subsidiaries of their companies established
in third countries from trading with Cuba. This has raised new
obstacles to Cuba's economic relations with other countries and
ultimately increases costs, so that the transition to a more open
economy becomes more difficult.

54. The Cuban Government has begun to take tentative steps
to remedy the situation. For example, some forms of self-employment
have been legalized, although the establishment of small businesses
that would have to hire workers to enhance productivity is still
prohibited. State farms have been converted into what may be described
as agricultural cooperatives; however, they are still subject
to regulations that prevent them from operating as genuinely independent
economic entities. Facilities for foreign investment have reactivated
certain sectors of the economy, but the uncertainty surrounding
the country's political future has led investors to demand unreasonable
advantages as a precondition for investment. It is also a very
positive sign that measures were adopted in October 1994 for the
establishment of an agricultural market which is governed by the
laws of supply and demand and where citizens may freely buy certain
foods without restrictions and in the national currency. Although
the prices of the products offered on this market continue to
be excessively high for the majority of the population, its existence
reduces the importance of the black market and removes the element
of unlawfulness that characterizes it. The same is true of industrial
markets, which began to make their appearance in December 1994.

55. To prevent the situation from deteriorating even further,
with the resulting erosion of economic and social rights, the
Government should allow Cuban citizens to operate freely as economic
agents by removing existing barriers to the establishment of private
businesses in all branches of economic activity, the free hiring
of labour and, finally, the organization of independent trade
unions.

V. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

56. The Special Rapporteur has observed that, throughout 1994,
the human rights situation in Cuba has not changed significantly
as compared with the previous two years; it has been the subject
of reports by the Special Rapporteur to the General Assembly and
the Commission on Human Rights and continues to be a matter of
concern.

57. The underlying causes are, above all, institutional and
of internal origin. On the one hand, the persistence of political
repression, while giving rise to tragic situations at the individual
and collective levels, impedes the search for solutions to the
problems of a society in serious crisis from various points of
view. In the economic sphere, the policies carried out for years,
in conjunction with more recent phenomena beyond government control,
such as the loss of markets and worsening of the terms of trade,
have in recent years plunged the country into a state of paralysis
and chaos, with the result that the population can no longer be
fed adequately, while the level of production and distribution
of basic commodities and traditional exports has dropped precipitously.
In these circumstances, it is absolutely necessary to put in place
fundamental economic reforms so as to avoid a further worsening
of the situation. If the present system is maintained without
major changes, which is a possibility, the result would, in the
best case, be an impoverishment that would nullify and dismantle
many, if not all, of the advances which Cuban society has made
over the past 35 years. In addition, that would entail a strong
risk of social protest and new waves of people trying to leave
the country by sea. The measures taken so far with regard to the
functioning of the domestic economy aim in the right direction
in that they introduce a measure of flexibility and opportunities
for private initiative; however, they are still too modest and
insufficient.

58. While the economic shortcomings do not necessarily constitute
human rights violations, the Special Rapporteur believes that
they are an important element in explaining the context in which
such violations occur. Furthermore, these deficiencies are an
obstacle to any reform aimed at eliminating, or at least mitigating,
human rights violations.

59. An orderly programme of economic and political reforms
would be greatly facilitated if Cuba's current isolation from
neighbouring countries came to an end. The prolonged economic,
trade and financial embargoes imposed by the United States have,
over the years, had an adverse impact on the country's political
climate and economic reality. They are now an obstacle to the
necessary opening up of a system shaped and justified to a large
extent by a perceived need to withstand external pressures and
hostile acts which threaten national sovereignty. The blockade
reaffirms the political aims of government sectors which fear
any attempt to introduce flexibility into their control over society;
more importantly, it discourages Cubans who desire to work for
a better future. A feeling of profound resignation is probably
the dominant mood among the general population, but there is also
fear of alternative policies represented by hard-line, politically
influential Cuban-American groups. These fears do not help to
foster a resolve to effect changes, whether through protests or
a commitment to participate in the building of a different society.

60. The Government of Cuba should institute a serious and fruitful
dialogue with all sectors of society, including the internal opposition,
without dismissing the opinions of Cubans resident abroad. This
dialogue is absolutely essential and should have as its aim facilitating
a peaceful transition to a pluralistic society in which all Cubans
have a place. In this connection, official initiatives, such as
the holding in Havana in April 1994 of the Conference on the Nation
and Emigration, in which a large number of Cubans resident abroad
participated, are positive, but vastly inadequate. So, too, was
the meeting held in Madrid in September 1994 by Minister for Foreign
Affairs Roberto Robaina and representatives of some sectors of
the opposition, also resident abroad. However, it is to be hoped
that such initiatives will continue and yield results, and that
the dialogue begun in September 1994 by the Governments of Cuba
and the United States with a view to resolving emigration issues
will be continued and extended to other spheres.

61. The Government of Cuba should recognize the right of political
parties and non-governmental organizations, apart from those established
on the basis of centralist criteria in line with the official
ideology, to function legally in the country. The freedoms of
expression, information and assembly and the freedom to demonstrate
peacefully should also be fully recognized, and all prisoners
of conscience should be released immediately, thus enabling those
who wish to do so to continue living in the country. The practice
of releasing some of these prisoners as a result of intercession
by foreign institutions or Governments is certainly positive.
It is not such a positive sign, however, that, in order to gain
freedom, these persons are obliged to leave the country and are
subjected to pressure while they are in prison to accept this
condition.

62. Moreover, it is also incumbent upon the international community,
which has already expressed its rejection of some aspects of the
United States embargo through resolutions of the United Nations
General Assembly, to provide all possible support for the establishment
of a process of peaceful political transition in Cuba, to ensure
that adequate humanitarian assistance is provided to the Cuban
population in need, and to facilitate multilateral and bilateral
technical and financial cooperation with Cuba which can enable
its Government and people on a consensual basis to undertake the
political and economic reforms which are urgently called for by
the current situation.

63. Of course, the international community should also continue
to monitor the development of the human rights situation in Cuba,
since, to the extent that that situation improves, the unambiguous
political will of the Government to advance significantly along
the path of reform will be demonstrated.

In this connection, the Government's decision to invite the
High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit the country was extremely
positive; the visit took place from 16 to 18 November 1994. It
should, however, be regarded as a point of departure for full
- and not merely superficial - cooperation by the Government of
Cuba with all mechanisms of the Commission on Human Rights, including
the Special Rapporteur, in particular by giving them the opportunity
to visit the country. It would also be extremely positive if the
Government considered the possibility of requesting the Centre
for Human Rights to establish a programme of advisory services
and technical assistance whose terms of reference would be decided
jointly once needs and priorities had been evaluated.

64. The Special Rapporteur makes the following additional recommendations
to the Government.

(a) Cease persecuting and punishing citizens for reasons relating
to freedom of peaceful expression and association;

(b) Adopt measures to release unconditionally all persons
serving sentences for offences against State security and other
related offences and for trying to leave the country unlawfully;

(c) Permit the legalization of independent groups, especially
those seeking to carry out trade union, political or human rights
activities and allow them to act within the law, but without
undue interference by the authorities;

(d) Ratify the main human rights instruments to which Cuba
is not a party, in particular, the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights and its two Optional Protocols (the
first on individual communications and the second designed to
abolish the death penalty), as well as the International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights;

(e) Eliminate from criminal legislation and characterization
of offences in connection with which citizens may be prosecuted
for exercising their right to freedom of expression and association,
such as enemy propaganda, unlawful association, possession of
illegal printed matter, etc.;

(f) Review in depth the legal provisions relating to the concept
of "dangerous State" and the relevant security measures
with a view to eliminating at least all those aspects liable
to infringe individual rights and freedom;

(g) Repeal all those legal provisions which imply discrimination
between citizens on political grounds, in particular, in the
employment and education sectors, and adopt measures designed
to redress as far as possible abuses committed in this area in
the past, for example, by reinstating in their former posts persons
who have been dismissed;

(h) Repeal legal provisions which prevent Cuban citizens from
exercising their right freely to enter or leave the country.
Persons of Cuban origin living abroad should enjoy this right
once they have met the minimal administrative requirements;

(i) Ensure respect for the guarantees of due process, in accordance
with the provisions of international instruments, adopting, in
particular, the measures necessary to facilitate free and effective
access to legal assistance for all persons put on trial. Such
assistance should be provided by lawyers exercising their profession
totally independently;

(j) Implement measures for greater transparency and guarantees
in the prison system so as to prevent excessive violence and
physical and psychological suffering by the prison population.
In this connection, it would be a major achievement to renew
the agreement with the International Committee of the Red Cross
and to allow access to prisons by non-governmental organizations
with humanitarian objectives;

(k) Allow international non-governmental human rights organizations
to enter the country so that they can evaluate the human rights
situation and offer their competence and cooperation with a view
to securing improvements.